R.I.P. Carl Bean (26/05/1944 - 07/09/2021)

Earlier this year I posted Valentino v Carl Bean. Carl Bean died on Tuesday (7 Sep 2021) and there is an obituary in The Guardian.

I revisited Valentino's original version on YouTube and noticed that Chris Spierer, the co-writer of the song, left the following comment:

"Thank you so much for posting this.

My name is Chris Spierer and I wrote this song with Bunny Jones back in 1974. It has been covered by many artists such as The Pet Shop Boys, Magnus Carlsson, Jimmy Somerville, Johnny Rodriguez, Paul Oskar, Dimitri From Paris, Marty Thomas, Pour Homme, Another Gay Movie  as well as Carl Bean..It has also been sampled  numerous times.

You're hearing Stevie Wonder on drums!!

I am playing the guitar along with great musicians from New York."

Valentino v Carl Bean - I Was Born This Way

Yet another 70s disco track is getting the remix treatment. Carl Bean's 1977 Motown version has been remixed several times over the years and has just been reworked again by Mophlen. 

I've always preferred the 1975 original by Valentino which was his only release and the only release on Gaiee, a label set up by Bunny Jones (who co-wrote the song with Chris Spierer) which was sold to Motown who released it on their Gaiee logo.  I bought this when it came out but have seldom, if ever, heard it played out anywhere. I think it's a great soulful modern soul dance record.

It got a UK release but did absolutely nothing commercially either side of the pond, probably because the the overtly gay message of the song as we were still living in primitive times in the mid 70s so it probably got very little air-play, especially in the south ... black AND gay!  Not even the might of Motown could get Carl Bean's version into the R&B chart.

Valentino [1975] - I Was Born This Way [Gaiee #B 7640]

Carl Bean [1977] - I Was Born This Way [Motown #M 1438F]